Manned Deep Ocean Floor Labs

Other planned ocean bottom descents.

Manned deep ocean floor labs.

Alvin was the first u s based deep diving submersible and has now made over 4 400 descents and led to numerous ocean floor discoveries. It is deployed on the ocean floor 62 feet 19 m below the surface and next to a deep coral reef named conch reef. Despite having windows for gazing upon the ocean floor the main data collection comes from the videos and manipulator arms which can be used for biological or geological. One of the early attempts to allow people to live below the ocean s surface was the sealab project which is not the cartoon you watch late at night while eating the research labs you ordered from taco bell like the conshelf the sealab project also came in a set of three the first of which was launched off the coast of bermuda in 1964 but cut short by an approaching storm system.

Sealab ii an underwater habitat is lowered off the coast of. The only way there can be a future for underwater labs like aquarius is if the general public becomes as aware of and excited for manned undersea missions as they do for manned spaceflight. Allyn vine of woods hole oceanographic institution whoi attended a symposium in washington where participants drafted a resolution that the u s. Uncw near the habitat are other facilities to assist divers.

The aquarius habitat has about 400 square feet of living and laboratory space. The deep submergence vehicle alvin is constructed by the woods hole oceanographic institute. Develop a national program for manned undersea vehicles. The aquarius system has three elements.

The dream of building a manned deep ocean research submersible first started to move toward reality on february 29 1956. A life support buoy at the surface the habitat and a baseplate that secures the habitat to the ocean floor. Two additional undersea facilities also located in key largo florida are owned and operated by marine resources development foundation. Similarly mir i and mir ii are three person submersibles that can operate at a depth of 20 000 ft meaning they have the capability of accessing 98 of the ocean floor.

Several other manned expeditions are planned.